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Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Thursday, February 13, 2025
PLANning War 2025
24-3-12 Military Strategist: How Xina Would Likely Invade Taiwan | WSJ > .25-2-5 Xina's Plan to Militarize the Belt and Road - Aaron > .
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
British Army - Digital Transformation
21-5-12 Digital Transformation: How Can The Army Adapt For Future Warfare? > .
24-2-19 AI Played Wargames - Result Not Reassuring - Sabine > .
24-2-6 Exclusive: Head of UK Strategic Command's full in-depth interview - Forces > .
24-2-1 Could National Service fix British forces recruitment crisis? | Sitrep > .
23-9-11 British Army ⇒ most lethal army in Europe by 2030 - CGS - Forces > .
23-7-19 Cyber & Technologies in Defence Command Paper - Forces > .
23-7-18 Futureproofing for changing threats; Defence Command Paper - Forces > .
22-9-29 Is Your Laptop's Microphone Spying On You? - Seytonic > .
22-9-29 Pegasus: The Most Dangerous Virus In The World - Tech > .
> EuM - European Defense >> EU Army?
> Future Combat >> >> Future >>>
British Forces - 21st C ..
⧫ Cryptography ..
⧫ Cyberwar, Digital Warfare ..
⧫ Electronic Warfare, Microwave Assault ..
⧫ Future Warfare ..
⧫ Government, Logistics - Hybrid Warfare ..
⧫ Hardware ..
⧫ Hybrid Warfare ..
⧫ Hypothetical Warfare, Wargaming ..
⧫ Intelligence ..
⧫ Internet ..
⧫ IP Theft (industrial, intellectual property theft) ..
⧫ MILDEC - Military Deception ..
⧫ Military ..
⧫ Propaganda, Communications ..
⧫ Cyberwar, Digital Warfare ..
⧫ Electronic Warfare, Microwave Assault ..
⧫ Future Warfare ..
⧫ Government, Logistics - Hybrid Warfare ..
⧫ Hardware ..
⧫ Hybrid Warfare ..
⧫ Hypothetical Warfare, Wargaming ..
⧫ Intelligence ..
⧫ Internet ..
⧫ IP Theft (industrial, intellectual property theft) ..
⧫ MILDEC - Military Deception ..
⧫ Military ..
⧫ Propaganda, Communications ..
British Forces - 21st C
21-3-23 RADICAL RESHAPE For The UK Military - Forces > .
24-2-6 Exclusive: Head of UK Strategic Command's full in-depth interview - Forces > .
24-2-1 Could National Service fix British forces recruitment crisis? | Sitrep > .
24-1-20 Can Ruscia win the military production race? - Anders > .
24-3-31 Global Arms Exports - Winners, losers, trends in race to rearm - Perun > .
24-1-24 Importance of 155mm shells - WSJ > .
> EuM - European Defense >> EU Army?
Reservists
24-9-30 Reservist lethality: British Army's fighting power by 2027 - Forces > .Future - British Forces - Fyrd Færeld >> .
Manpower, Training
Geostrategic Projection
European Geostrategic Projection ..Logistics, Modeling, Strategy
Mahan & Naval Strategy .. 22-6-27 Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to call for more military spending over Russian threat: Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is set to issue a call for more spending on the UK's armed forces in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He will give a speech on Tuesday - but has reportedly already asked the prime minister to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2028.
The UK is currently spending around 2% of GDP on defence, matching the target set by the NATO for member nations. The government announced an increase in military spending in 2020.
Wallace told a conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute think tank that, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the threat has changed and governments must be prepared to invest more to keep people safe.
In 1990, the UK had around 1,200 main battle tanks in its inventory, today it has 227 - the report states. It said armoured vehicle capability had reached "a point of batch obsolescence, falling behind that of our allies and potential adversaries".
The report comes ahead of publication of the government's Integrated Review of foreign, defence, security and development policy, which will be set out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 21-3-16. Described as the most important defence review since the end of the Cold War, it is expected to focus on developing new technology such as robots, autonomous systems and meeting new threats in the domains of space and cyber.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "We thank the Defence Committee for their report and acknowledge their recommendations as we look to improve the management of our large and complex equipment programmes.
The UK is currently spending around 2% of GDP on defence, matching the target set by the NATO for member nations. The government announced an increase in military spending in 2020.
Wallace told a conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute think tank that, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the threat has changed and governments must be prepared to invest more to keep people safe.
21-3-13 Ageing equipment puts [British] Army 'at risk' - [CDC] report:
The British Army is likely to find itself "outgunned" in any conflict with Russian forces, MPs have warned. In a damning report, the Commons Defence Committee described efforts to modernise the Army's fleet of Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV) as "woeful". In the report - entitled 'Obsolescent and outgunned' - the committee highlighted the "bureaucratic procrastination" and "general ineptitude" which had "bedevilled" attempts to re-equip the Army over the past two decades. The ageing and depleted fleet puts the Army at "serious risk" of being outmatched by adversaries, it states. The Ministry of Defence has promised "an upgraded, digitised and networked armoured force to meet future threats".In 1990, the UK had around 1,200 main battle tanks in its inventory, today it has 227 - the report states. It said armoured vehicle capability had reached "a point of batch obsolescence, falling behind that of our allies and potential adversaries".
The report comes ahead of publication of the government's Integrated Review of foreign, defence, security and development policy, which will be set out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 21-3-16. Described as the most important defence review since the end of the Cold War, it is expected to focus on developing new technology such as robots, autonomous systems and meeting new threats in the domains of space and cyber.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: "We thank the Defence Committee for their report and acknowledge their recommendations as we look to improve the management of our large and complex equipment programmes.
Selection and training, British Army w
23-3-22 Defence review: British army to be cut to 72,500 troops by 2025 [=4K fewer]:
Following the publication last week of the separate so-called integrated review [above] of foreign and defence policy, ministers have said big changes are necessary to create a more agile military. As part of that review, the government increased the cap on UK nuclear warheads from 180 to 260.
"The size of the Army is to be reduced to 72,500 soldiers by 2025 as part of a move towards drones and cyber warfare. The Army currently has 76,500 personnel and has not been at its "established strength" of 82,000 troops since the middle of the last decade.
The changes set out in the paper - titled Defence in a Competitive Age - include £3bn for new vehicles, long-range rocket systems, drones, electronic warfare and cyber capabilities. The government plans to increase the UK defence budget by £24bn over the next four years. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace set out plans for new capabilities such as electronic warfare and drones in a command paper in the Commons. He said "increased deployability and technological advantage" meant greater effect could be delivered by fewer people. "These changes will not require redundancies and we wish to build on the work already done on utilising our reserves to make sure the whole force is better integrated and more productive."
Announcing the major overhaul of the armed forces, Wallace said it marked a shift from "mass mobilisation to information age speed", insisting they must be able to "seek out and understand" new threats to the country's security.
A cut to the size of the Army - with a reduction of 10,000 - had been anticipated. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced a cut to the target for the number of fully-trained people in the Army, from 82,040 today to 72,500 in 2025. "Full-time trained strength" is the number of soldiers who have completed both their general, basic training and a second phase of specialised training for a specific role.
However, the Army is not currently meeting its target - there are actually 76,350 such soldiers in the Army, which is almost 6,000 short [of prior target]. So the Ministry of Defence is already well on the way to getting down to its new target.
The changes set out in the paper - titled Defence in a Competitive Age - include £3bn for new vehicles, long-range rocket systems, drones, electronic warfare and cyber capabilities. The government plans to increase the UK defence budget by £24bn over the next four years. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace set out plans for new capabilities such as electronic warfare and drones in a command paper in the Commons. He said "increased deployability and technological advantage" meant greater effect could be delivered by fewer people. "These changes will not require redundancies and we wish to build on the work already done on utilising our reserves to make sure the whole force is better integrated and more productive."
Announcing the major overhaul of the armed forces, Wallace said it marked a shift from "mass mobilisation to information age speed", insisting they must be able to "seek out and understand" new threats to the country's security.
The plan sets out how forces will spend more time overseas to support allies and deter hostile powers, such as Russia. Wallace said previous reviews had been "overambitious and underfunded leaving forces that were overstretched and underequipped".
As part of the military restructure, the Royal Marines will be transformed into a new Future Commando Force, taking on many of the traditional tasks of the special forces - the SAS and SBS (Special Air Service and Special Boat Service).
The force will receive more than £200m of direct investment over the next decade to carry out maritime security operations and to "pre-empt and deter sub-threshold activity, and counter state threats".
Other changes announced include:
Boris Johnson spoke to NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the announcement and gave reassurances that increased investment would take the UK's total defence spending to 2.2% of GDP - above the NATO target
Defence reforms 'will help make UK match-fit' .
UK to lift cap on nuclear stockpile after review .
Does size matter for Britain's shrinking Army? .
The Army Needs to look hard at retention, not just recruitment.
"Throughout the last year and a half the issue of recruiting has become increasingly public, resulting in the Chief of the General Staff and the Chief of the Defence Staff having to defend the Army and explain the situation openly. In April 2018 the National Audit Office reported that regular personnel across the military were down by 5.7% or 8200 people, with the Army being down by 4000 troops. Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee has branded this ‘unsustainable’.
However, it is not just recruitment that is the issue; the British Army has a less well reported, but unsustainable problem with retention. After all, recruitment would be far less of an issue if soldiers were not leaving the Army at such a rapid rate. This speed of this exodus means that currently the Army cannot recruit in anything like the numbers required to fill the gaps of those leaving, resulting in an ever shrinking army and serious pinch points developing in key areas such as Engineering and Intelligence. Retention is a huge problem and something must be done to address it.
Many regiments are seriously affected by this, The Scots Guards, for example, has only 469 soldiers, a deficit of 260 or 37%. This leaves them, as well as other units in a similar position, frankly unable to deploy in their primary warfighting role without ‘borrowing’ companies from elsewhere, affecting the combat effectiveness of the Army as a whole."
Mutual Support: Maximising the Army Reserve:
As part of the military restructure, the Royal Marines will be transformed into a new Future Commando Force, taking on many of the traditional tasks of the special forces - the SAS and SBS (Special Air Service and Special Boat Service).
The force will receive more than £200m of direct investment over the next decade to carry out maritime security operations and to "pre-empt and deter sub-threshold activity, and counter state threats".
Other changes announced include:
- the Army will reorganise into seven brigade combat teams
- a newly-formed Security Force Assistance Brigade will provide skills to build capacity of partner nations
- the replacement of counter-terrorism Reaper drones with Protector drones by 2024
- a £2bn investment in the Future Combat Air System over the next four years
- £1.5bn to be invested over the next decade to build a "digital backbone" to share and exploit vast amounts of data
- the creation of the National Cyber Force based in the North West of England
Defence reforms 'will help make UK match-fit' .
UK to lift cap on nuclear stockpile after review .
Does size matter for Britain's shrinking Army? .
The Army Needs to look hard at retention, not just recruitment.
However, it is not just recruitment that is the issue; the British Army has a less well reported, but unsustainable problem with retention. After all, recruitment would be far less of an issue if soldiers were not leaving the Army at such a rapid rate. This speed of this exodus means that currently the Army cannot recruit in anything like the numbers required to fill the gaps of those leaving, resulting in an ever shrinking army and serious pinch points developing in key areas such as Engineering and Intelligence. Retention is a huge problem and something must be done to address it.
Many regiments are seriously affected by this, The Scots Guards, for example, has only 469 soldiers, a deficit of 260 or 37%. This leaves them, as well as other units in a similar position, frankly unable to deploy in their primary warfighting role without ‘borrowing’ companies from elsewhere, affecting the combat effectiveness of the Army as a whole."
Mutual Support: Maximising the Army Reserve:
Monday, January 1, 2024
Economics of Agriculture □
19th November 2024 Protests >. We compare Keir Starmer's 2023 speech to the NFU conference to the protests held by farmers over the change to inheritance tax in the recent Labour Budget. We discuss the political representation at the protest from Reform UK, Clarkson, the Lib Dems and the Tories, including speeches by Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey, while also asking if this is going to become a culture war issue. We also look at ome press statemets from Reeves, DEFRA minister Steve Reed and agricultural minister Daniel Zeichner. We conclude that the protest itself was apolitical and single issue, but this is clearly not over yet.
In November 2024, the newly elected Labour government announced plans to remove this tax exemption for farms valued over £1,000,000 in order to generate revenue for public services. Set to take effect in April 2026, the new policy would see a 20% inheritance tax on farm valued over that threshold, half the usual rate of inheritence tax, and could be paid across ten years. The inheritance tax exemption would remain in place for farms valued below the £1,000,000 threshold.
Opposition to the change from some farmers stemmed from the claim that farmers, while asset rich, are "cash poor", which they claimed would create a situation where some inheriting families would have to sell their farm lands to meet tax obligations. Supporters of the change claimed that farmers' had been manipulating the tax break to avoid taxation on profits.
Organisiations representing British farm owners said income declines across various agricultural sectors in the year ending February 2024, with some farms experiencing revenue drops exceeding 70%. Average annual incomes ranged from a modest £17,000 for livestock grazing operations to £143,000 for specialized poultry farms, further exacerbating the thinness of profit margins despite high land valuations.
The scale of potential impact is a point of contention. UK Government figures suggested the measure would affect approximately 27 percent of farms in the UK (aproximately 56,700 farms), equivilent to 500 farms annually. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggested that 35 percent of farms (aproximately 70,000 farms) would be impacted. Analysis by BBC News Verifty stated that the figures of the UK government were more probable than the CLA's.
Oct 24, 2018
24-7-4 UK Upheaval □
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24-7-4 Keir Starmer, Britain’s next prime minister - Economist > .24-7-14 Can the Conservative party survive defeat? | FT > .
24-7-13 Who and What is Keir Starmer? David Starkey > .
24-7-12 Melanie Phillips: Britain chooses Labour [Danger to Israel, West] - JNS > .
24-7-5 Jonathan Pie: '50 Shades of Beige' | Britain's New PM | NYT > .
24-6-29 Fareed Zakaria: revolutions, tribalism, demise of West | Spectator > .
Given that weakism has completely abandoned rationality, I expect that the British will soon be as sorry about this kneejerk landslide as they are about BrexTWIT. For Britain's sake, I hope I'm wrong. On the positive side: the SNP has taken a drubbing; Liz Truss lost her seat rather ungraciously, whereas others swamped by the changing tide were gracious losers; and, 30-years-wait-to-be-MP Nigel Farage's Reform accomplished little despite an annoying social media plague of Reform-bots.
A comment thread beginning with "Reform - 4 million votes and 5 seats. LibDem - 3.5 million votes and 71 seats" reveals much about the MAGA-like capacities of Reform voters = emotional reactivity with almost zero attempt to comprehend the underlying mechanisms of multi-party vote splitting in an FPP system.
24-6-29 Fareed Zakaria: revolutions, tribalism, demise of West | Spectator > .
Given that weakism has completely abandoned rationality, I expect that the British will soon be as sorry about this kneejerk landslide as they are about BrexTWIT. For Britain's sake, I hope I'm wrong. On the positive side: the SNP has taken a drubbing; Liz Truss lost her seat rather ungraciously, whereas others swamped by the changing tide were gracious losers; and, 30-years-wait-to-be-MP Nigel Farage's Reform accomplished little despite an annoying social media plague of Reform-bots.
24-1-11 Retaliation against Houthis □
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24-3-10 Why the Houthis Control Half of Yemen - K&G > .24-2-8 The Hezbollah-Iran Alliance - IDF > .
24-1-30 US and Iran: Deciding What to Bomb || Peter Zeihan > .24-1-30 Would Ending the Gaza War End the Red Sea Crisis? [no] - Spaniel > .
24-1-26 Saudi Arabia's Catastrophic "Iran" Problem - Hindsight > .
24-1-21 US Military Strikes Back Against Houthis - T&P > .
24-1-21 US & UK Airstrikes in Yemen (mapped) - Balkan > .
24-1-16 What conflict in the Red Sea could mean for global supply chains | ABC Aus > .>> H-I War >>>
...
24-1-11 UN votes on Red Sea Houthi attacks ⇒ US & UK action - SBS > ....
24-1-15 Global Crises: ISIS vs Iran, Hezbollah, Ecuador, Myanmar - Waro > .Egypt-UAE
24-6-6 Egypt is a Ticking Time Bomb - gtbt > . skip > .
24-4-12 Egypt is selling city site to UAE for $35 billion - Caspian > .Saturday, May 6, 2023
23-5-6 Coronation □
23-4-14 King's coronation procession route - Forces > .
574 CE When Royal Coronations Go Wrong! > .
The U.K. did NOT send invitations to King Charles' coronation ceremony on May 6 to the heads of Russia, Belarus, Iran, Myanmar, Syria, Afghanistan, and Venezuela. However, Olena Zelenska did attend.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Democracies 4 Freedom
23-2-8 President Zelensky asks UK Parliament to give Ukraine fighter jets > .
23-3-12 Krumblin Presents: Friends Like These (song parody) - rhubarbjin > .
23-2-17 One Year: R-U wars impact on global economy | DW > .
Antidemocratic Disasters
Western Security
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
23-1-25 Tanksgiving □
23-1-25 Ukraine welcomes Western tanks; Ruscist missile strikes – BBC > .
23-10-6 Heavy Tanks vs Lighter Tanks vs IFVs - nwyt > .
23-7-29 Why the US Military isn't Out of Ammo - T&P > .
23-2-20 Military spending: UK may offer some insights - CNBC > .
23-2-7 German Defense Minister promises more Leopards | DW > .
23-2-5 Resupplying Ukraine: Arms, Aid & Escalation - sources | Perun > .
23-2-5 22-12-16 Fronts, Attrition, Weapon Packages 23-1-15 - K&G > .
23-2-1 Ukraine Newsreel: Tanks to Ukraine as Orcs Plan Offensive - Anim > .
23-2-1 NATO tanks vs Orcine tanks in Ukraine - Binkov > .
Thursday, October 20, 2022
22-10-20 Truss Resigns □
22-11-11 Great Britain: Descent Into Chaos | Truss to Sunak | My Take > .
22-12-30 Most disappointing politicians - VisPol > .
22-12-13 Rishi Sunak's first 50 days as PM - comparison to Truss - Times > .
Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 25 October 2022 and Leader of the Conservative Party since 24 October 2022. Sunak served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2020, and he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.
Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who migrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s. He was educated at Winchester College, studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar. While at Stanford, he met his future wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys. After graduating, Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at the hedge fund firms The Children's Investment Fund Management and Theleme Partners.
Sunak was elected to the House of Commons for Richmond in North Yorkshire at the 2015 general election, succeeding William Hague. Sunak supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership. He was appointed to Theresa May's second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the 2018 reshuffle. He voted three times in favour of May's Brexit withdrawal agreement. After May resigned, Sunak supported Boris Johnson's campaign to become Conservative leader. After Johnson became Prime Minister, Sunak was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Sunak replaced Sajid Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer after Javid's resignation in the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle. As Chancellor, Sunak was prominent in the government's financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, including the Coronavirus Job Retention and Eat Out to Help Out schemes. He resigned as chancellor in July 2022, followed by Johnson's resignation amid a government crisis.
Sunak stood in the Conservative party leadership election to replace Johnson, and lost the members' vote to Liz Truss. After Truss's resignation amid a government crisis, Sunak was elected unopposed as Leader of the Conservative Party on 24 October 2022. He was appointed Prime Minister by King Charles III, the first to be appointed during his reign, a day later, becoming the first British Asian and Hindu to hold that position.
22-10-20 Liz Truss stands down as UK prime minister > .
22-10-21 Week that ended Liz Truss's time as UK PM - BBC > .
22-10-21 Truss Gone [Rant] - Jonathan Pie > .
...
Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who migrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s. He was educated at Winchester College, studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Lincoln College, Oxford, and earned an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar. While at Stanford, he met his future wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys. After graduating, Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs and later as a partner at the hedge fund firms The Children's Investment Fund Management and Theleme Partners.
Sunak was elected to the House of Commons for Richmond in North Yorkshire at the 2015 general election, succeeding William Hague. Sunak supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership. He was appointed to Theresa May's second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the 2018 reshuffle. He voted three times in favour of May's Brexit withdrawal agreement. After May resigned, Sunak supported Boris Johnson's campaign to become Conservative leader. After Johnson became Prime Minister, Sunak was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Sunak replaced Sajid Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer after Javid's resignation in the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle. As Chancellor, Sunak was prominent in the government's financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, including the Coronavirus Job Retention and Eat Out to Help Out schemes. He resigned as chancellor in July 2022, followed by Johnson's resignation amid a government crisis.
Sunak stood in the Conservative party leadership election to replace Johnson, and lost the members' vote to Liz Truss. After Truss's resignation amid a government crisis, Sunak was elected unopposed as Leader of the Conservative Party on 24 October 2022. He was appointed Prime Minister by King Charles III, the first to be appointed during his reign, a day later, becoming the first British Asian and Hindu to hold that position.
Thursday, September 8, 2022
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Bye, Bye, BoJo
22-9-6 Boris Johnson: Definitive biography - a cūnābulō ad ruīnam - Donkeys > .
22-9-18 Boris Johnson's New Job? | G0 > .
22-9-6 Jonathan Pie: Welcome to Britain. Everything is Terrible. | NYT > .
22-7-7 Bye Bye Boris - Jonathan Pie > .
22-2-5 Jonathan Pie: 'Boris Johnson Is a Liar' | NYT > .
Evoking Cincinnatus > . = "I'll be b-a-c-k"?
➾ 2022 ..
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Paranoid Ruscist Aggression
23-12-22 P00ti's War: Killer Instinct - NBC > .
22-11-22 Why [the Ruscian Federation] cannot become a democracy - Caspian > .
22-11-11 Can Ruscia's [Press Gang] Mobilization Make a Difference? - T&P > .
22-10-7 What If Pootin Nukes Ukraine? - OBF > .
22-5-7 New Cold War - More nuclear weapons in Europe? | DW Doc > .
21-12-29 How The U.S. Fell Behind In Hypersonic Technology - CNBC > .
21-12-29 How The U.S. Fell Behind In Hypersonic Technology - CNBC > .
Proxy Warfare
23-8-19 Art of War: Proxy Warfare - Warographics > . skip > .
R-U - Latest Map - αλλο >> .➾ 2022 ..
Spin Dictator to Fear Authoritarian ..
Comment:
MAD Vlad the Bad deserves Despensering.
The idea of a nuclear threat taboo is false. Nuclear brinkmanship has been around since 1948, such as:
1. Truman sending B-29s to UK in 1948 Berlin Blockade;
2. Truman's November 30 1950 press conference about use of nuclear weapons in Korea; 3. Eisenhower's secret threats to China in 1953 which lead to the Korean armistice;
4. Dulles offering to use 2 tactical nukes in 1954 to save the French at Dien Bien Phu;
5. Threats to use nukes against China in 1955 during first Quemoy crisis (China vs Taiwan);
6. "Diplomatic use of the Bomb" (Nixon's term) to deter USSR during Suez Crisis;
7 and 8. The 1958 and 1961 Berlin crises;
9. The 1961 Cuban missile crisis; 10. Public reports of Joint Chiefs of Staff advising Johnson of likely need for nuclear weapon use to save the marines at Khe Sanh in 1968; 11. Secret threats by Nixon to deter USSR attacking the Chinese nuclear capability 1969-1970;
12. Nixon's secret threats of nuclear attacks on North Vietnam from 1969 to 1972;
13. Nixon's threats (according to him to deter Soviet response to possible Chines intervention against India in Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 (possibly also to push India to end the war);
14. Nixon ordering DEFCON 3 to deter USSR during 1973 Arab-Israeli War;
15. Ford ordering DEFCON 3 in 1976 over skirmish in Korean DMZ;
16. 1980 Carter doctrine in the Middle East;
17. August 1980 secret nuclear warnings to USSR to not invade Iran (it was building up it's military on the border at the time);
18. Reagan reaffirming Carter Doctrine in January 1981;
19. Bush Senior threatening nuclear response if Iraq used chemical weapons during Desert Storm;
20. Clinton secret nuclear threats against North Korea in 1995 over it's development of nuclear weapons;
21. Public nuclear threats by Defence Secretary Perry against Libya's Tarhuna underground chemical weapons facility in 1996.
These are just the American examples, but others have also done so:
Israel loaded nukes onto it's Jericho missiles in 1973;
Modi and Khan warning each other in 2019 (India v Pakistan); Khrushchev's "We will bury you!" in 1956;
Stalin about to launch an attack on the West before he died (as he believed one was inevitable anyway);
Mao's declaration that China could lose 300 million and still win;
2006 Chirac threatening nuclear attack on any country that used terrorism against France. Reagan pulled back his rhetoric and brinkmanship once he was informed that the USSR actually believed he was about to launch a first strike in 1983 ("The Evil Empire", Exercise Able Archer, the shoot-down of KAL 007, and Operation RYAN - see https://coldwarconversations.com/episode229/ for more information on that dreadful year);
Reagan truly believed the USSR was an Evil Empire and they truly believed he was a madman about to attack. The USSR so believed the West would launch a decapitation First Strike they developed Perimeter, a dead hand retaliation system, but never warned the West about it (Doctor Strangelove for real).
There never was a taboo against nuclear weapon threats, except that leaders have always held back on following through due to the assumption of massive worldwide condemnation, but it only takes one lunatic unable to win his trumped up war to decide NOT using them is an even GREATER risk to HIS hold on power. South Africa disarmed in 1989 because it improved their security position in Southern Africa and de Klerk saw they had no useful military value to South Africa. Unfortunately we can't, as a planet, decide the same thing. Nuclear weapons are too powerful a tool for countries to give up, yet if we don't, then sooner or later they will be used again.
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sī vīs pācem, parā bellum
igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...
